Hi berbear,
One of the first requirements for becoming a U.S. citizen is that "An
applicant must have been lawfully admitted to the United States for
permanent residence". I'm sorry to say that a person in the U.S. on an
F-1 student visa is considered a "temporary visitor" (nonimmigrant)
and not a "permanent resident". The first step to becoming a permanent
resident (and then onward to citizenship) is to petition for an
immigration visa, submitted by an employer or relative on your
friend's behalf.
>>>>>>>>>> NON-IMMIGRANT
Academic Student
"A nonimmigrant is someone admitted to the U.S. temporarily for a
specific purpose. People who are coming to the United States to pursue
full-time academic or vocational studies are usually admitted in one
of two nonimmigrant categories. The F-1 category includes academic
students in colleges, universities, seminaries, conservatories,
academic high schools, other academic institutions, and in language
training."
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/academic.htm
>>>>>>>>>> IMMIGRANT
Residency
"An applicant must have been lawfully admitted to the United States
for permanent residence. Lawfully admitted for permanent residence
means having been legally accorded the privilege of residing
permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with
the immigration laws. Individuals who have been lawfully admitted as
permanent residents will be asked to produce an I-551, Alien
Registration Receipt Card, as proof of their status."
http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/general.htm
How Do I Get an Immigrant Visa Number?
"An immigrant is someone who is not a U.S. citizen but has been
authorized to permanently live and work in the United States. If you
want to become an immigrant, you must go through a three-step process.
First, the USCIS must approve an immigrant petition for you, which is
usually filed by an employer or a relative for you. Second, a visa
number, through the State Department must be immediately available to
you, even if you are already in the United States. If you receive an
immigrant visa number, it means that an immigrant visa has been
assigned to you. Third, if you are already in the United States, you
may apply to adjust to permanent resident status after a visa number
becomes available for you. (If you are outside the United States when
an immigrant visa number becomes available for you, you must then go
to your local U.S. consulate to complete your processing.)"
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/immvisa.htm
"An immigrant is a foreign national who has been granted the privilege
of living and working permanently in the United States. You must go
through a multi-step process to become an immigrant. In most cases,
USCIS must first approve an immigrant petition for you, usually filed
by an employer or relative. Then, an immigrant visa number must be
available to you, even if you are already in the United States. After
that, if you are already in the United States, you may apply to adjust
to permanent resident status (If you are outside the United States,
you will be notified to go to the local U.S. consulate to complete the
processing for an immigrant visa.)"
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/legpermres.htm
How Do I Apply for Immigrant Status Based on Employment?
"All people who want to become immigrants based on employment must
wait for an immigrant visa number to become available according to the
following preferences:
* First Preference: Priority Workers including aliens with
extraordinary abilities, outstanding professors and researchers, and
certain multinational executives and managers.
* Second Preference: Members of Professions Holding Advanced Degrees
or Persons of Exceptional Ability.
* Third Preference: Skilled Workers, professionals and other qualified workers.
* Fourth: Certain special immigrants including those in religious vocations.
* Fifth: Employment Creation Immigrants."
How Do I Apply for an Immigrant Visa Number?
"You do not directly apply for an immigrant visa number. In most
cases, your relative or employer sends a visa petition to the USCIS
for you (the beneficiary) to become an immigrant. (Certain applicants
such as priority workers, investors, certain special immigrants, and
diversity immigrants can petition on their own behalf.) USCIS will
tell the person who filed the visa petition (the petitioner) if the
visa petition is approved. USCIS will then send the approved visa
petition to the Department of State's National Visa Center, where it
will remain until an immigrant visa number is available."
"How Can I Find Out When an Immigrant Visa Number Will Be Available for Me?
Each approved visa petition is placed in chronological order according
to the date the visa petitioin was filed. The date the visa petition
was filed is known as your priority date. The State Department
publishes a bulletin that shows the month and year of the visa
petitions they are working on by country and preference category (see
eligibility information above). You can estimate of the amount of time
it will take to get an immigrant visa number by comparing your
priority date with the date listed in the bulletin. For instance,
suppose you look under your country and preference category, and see
that the State Department is working on applications they received in
May 1996. If your priority date is May 1998, then you may have to wait
several more years for an immigrant visa number to become available.
You may access the State Department Visa Bulletin at the State
Department's Website, or you may call the Department of State Visa
Office at (202) 663-1541, to learn which priority dates are currently
being processed."
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/immvisa.htm
How Do I Apply for Immigrant Status Based on Employment?
"An immigrant is a foreign national who is authorized to live and work
permanently in the United States. You must go through a multi-step
process to become an immigrant based on employment.
1. The USCIS must approve an immigrant petition (application) that was
filed for you, usually by an employer.
2. In most employment categories (See EB-2 and EB-3 eligibility and
filing information below), a U.S. employer must complete a labor
certification request (ETA 750) for you from the Department of Labor's
Employment and Training Administration.
3. The State Department must give you an immigrant visa number, even
if you are already in the United States. Please see How Do I Get an
Immigrant Visa Number?.
4. If you are already in the United States, you must apply to adjust
to permanent resident status when a visa number becomes available.
Please see How Do I Become a Lawful Permanent Resident while in the
United States? If you are outside the United States when an immigrant
visa number becomes available, you will be notified to go to the local
U.S. consulate to complete the processing for an immigrant visa."
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/immstatemp.htm
Immigrant Numbers for July 2004:
http://travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html
Application for Immigration Visa and Alien Registration:
http://travel.state.gov/DS-0230.pdf
>>>>>>>>>> LOTTERY
So, as you can see, it can take years and years before your friend
will finally have his immigration visa and be eligible to apply for
citizenship. However, all is not bleak - have you heard of the green
card lottery?
The 2005 lottery is now closed, but here are the instructions to give
you an idea of what is involved. The DV-2006 lottery won't begin until
this fall - your friend could ask about it at his Trinidad Embassy.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE 2005 DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2005):
http://travel.state.gov/dv2005.html
>>>>>>>>>> OVERVIEW
Immigrants:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/statyrbook96/chapter1.pdf
>>>>>>>>>>
I hope I've been able to sort this all out for you. If you have any
questions, please post a clarification request before closing/rating
my answer and I'll be happy to assist you.
Thank you,
hummer
Search Strategy:
I searched the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services websites, in addition to searching on Google for
DV-2006, green card lottery and f-1 student visa. |
Clarification of Answer by
hummer-ga
on
28 Jun 2004 13:57 PDT
Hi berbear,
I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability, but the
best thing for your friend to do would be to enquire at the nearest
USCIS office. Don't do anything until you are absolutely certain of
the consequences - so much is based on timing and if you miss a
deadline, you are out of luck.
1. If our friend would apply for the next green card lottery would
this preclude him from persuing other citizenship avenues? (ie. if his
employer would be willing to petition for an immigration visa for him)
THE SISKIND SUSSER LOTTERY FAQ:
May someone apply for a DV-2005 visa if they are already registered in
another visa category?
"Yes."
Will applying for the lottery affect one's ability to receive a nonimmigrant visa?
"Probably not. Technically, filing a visa lottery application is
equivalent to filing an immigrant petition. According to a source at
the Department of State, a consulate will only be notified IF the
person is selected in the lottery. An individual who is not chosen is
on his honor to state that he/she applied for the lottery.
Theoretically, if your name is selected in the lottery, you may have
trouble renewing nonimmigrant status while waiting for your name to be
cleared for processing (see discussion on the post-selection process
for securing a green card). This should only be a temporary problem
since permanent residency should eventually be awarded. There is still
a risk that you will fail to be deemed eligible for the DV-2005 visa
or the Department of State will have overestimated the number of
individuals to select in the lottery (see discussion on how the
selection process works). However, of all the lawyers with whom I have
spoken, none have ever reported a problem with a client having entered
the lottery. We have instructed our clients to answer the question on
the DS-156 concerning previous immigrant visa applications as follows:
"My lawyer entered me in the DV-2005 lottery." We have never had a
problem reported and I have yet to hear of anyone denied a visa
because of a previous lottery application."
http://www.visalaw.com/greencard.html
2. This person does have a relationship with a U.S. citizen. Although
I do not believe they would marry to hasten the process, how would
this scenario promote his U.S. citizenship?
Well, *that* is good news! And you are very wise to start enquiring
first before taking any actions. In this case, applying for an
immigrant visa while they are engaged to be married may be preferred
to waiting until after they are married. There are two possibilities,
1) your friend will be lucky and his fiancé will be able to petition
on his behalf while you are both here, or 2) your friend will have to
return to Trinidad before the petition is filed and wait for
permission to reenter the U.S. The very best thing for the couple to
do is for both of them to go together to the nearest U.S Citizenship
and Immigration Services Offices (make sure he brings all his student
visa papers) - they will be able to advise them, taking into account
all of the details of their situation. Personally, I think he will
have to return to Trinidad because he is a non-immigrant now, but
please, do get in touch with USCIS.
Districts and Sub Offices by State:
http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/distsub_offices/index.htm
American Citizen-Foreign National Marriages:
VISA PROCEDURES
"The Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, provides U.S.
citizens with two options for facilitating the immigration of future
spouses to the United States: the K-1 fiancé visa and the alien-spouse
immigrant visa. In many cases, the processing time for a fiancé visa
is shorter than that for an alien spouse. Fiancé visa processing can
take several months from the filing of the petition to the final
adjudication of the visa. Total processing time for the alien-spouse
visa can take 6-12 months depending on individual circumstances. If
your alien fiancé is already in the United States and plans to adjust
status in the U.S., contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Services in the Department of Homeland Security (BCIS)."
Marriage In the United States: Fiancé Visa
"U.S. citizens may file an I-129F petition with BCIS for the issuance
of a K-1 fiancé visa to an alien fiancé. A citizen exercising this
option must remain unmarried until the arrival of the fiancé in the
U.S., and the wedding must take place within three months of the
fiancé's arrival if he/she is to remain in status. Also, the alien and
U.S. citizen must have met personally at least once in the two years
before the petition was filed. For more information about K-1 visas
see the Bureau of Consular Affairs' brochure Tips For U.S. Visas:
Fiance(e)s. Please note that legal permanent residents may not file
petitions for fiancé visas. They must marry abroad and then file an
I-130 petition for the immigration of a new spouse.
http://travel.state.gov/marriage_visas.html
Tips for U.S. Visas: Fiancé(e)s:
http://travel.state.gov/visa;fiancee.html
General visa questions may be directed via e-mail to the State Department.
email: usvisa@state.gov
http://travel.state.gov/visa;fiancee.html
Marriage to an Alien
"Information on obtaining a visa for a foreign spouse may be obtained
from any office of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
in the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. embassies and consulates
abroad, or the Department of State Visa Office, Washington, DC
20520-0113. General information regarding visas may be obtained by
calling the Visa Office on 202-663-1225."
http://travel.state.gov/marriage.html
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I have to ask - are you the lucky fiancé? 8-)
Regards,
hummer
|
